08 August 2008

State in no hurry to fix big problemBy Lisa Falkenberg / August 7, 2008

The 95-page landmark ruling issued recently by Judge William Wayne Justice on how Texas is failing limited-English schoolchildren is a deeply depressing read.

Among the U.S. district judge's findings: Limited-English students lag in standardized test scores and soar in dropout rates. Texas' system of educating these kids amounts to a hodgepodge of programs across districts and schools that vary widely in results.The Texas Education Agency's system of monitoring the hodgepodge is hopelessly dependent on paperwork and too under-funded, under-staffed and under-qualified to verify district data and conduct actual, on-site visits. That leaves the state unable to probe glaring discrepancies and evidence suggesting some schools may be coercing parents to decline their children's participation in bilingual education and ESL programs.

Cooking the books?

And if the test scores and dropout rates aren't dismal enough, Justice seems to suggest that the TEA's methods of measuring them amount to cooking the books to create "gaps and masks" that distort the problem. Dropout rates are watered down by including middle school dropouts, which are inevitably lower than high school rates. Test results are distorted by comparing Limited English Proficient (LEP) students to "all students," which of course includes the LEP kids themselves and brings down the overall comparable average.

The judge is giving the state until Jan. 31 to come up with a different plan to educate about 140,000 junior high and high school LEP students.

The only thing more depressing than these findings is the response from the state. No inspiring nose-to-grindstone talk. No promises of forming a task force to meet the judge's order.

Instead, TEA officials are planning to appeal the ruling.

Playing the victim

The tactic could help Texas shirk responsibility or swaddle itself in a comfortable state of denial for a bit longer.

But the state can't appeal the data.

Texas' unique challenge of educating a growing population of English-limited students shouldn't be understated. The number of LEP students grows by at least 30,000 a year and reached 775,432 in the school year that just ended.

It's easy to wonder, after reading all the bad news, if Texas isn't just the helpless victim of its geography, doomed to labor in the futile quest of educating an endless tide of largely Spanish-speaking children for whom failure is largely inevitable.

It's even convenient to play the victim. In an interview last month with CNBC, Gov. Rick Perry was asked about the discrepancy between the network's rating of Texas business climate — No. 1 in the nation — compared with its ranking of Texas' education system — No. 30.

Perry reached for a politically expendable scapegoat: "Texas is, you know, a very diverse state, when you look at the border with Mexico that we share. And obviously there's a substantial number of children that we educate in the state of Texas from parents who don't speak English as their first language."

So, we have "some difficulties" there, Perry said.

Where is the leadership? While the challenges of educating limited-English students are real, they aren't the only challenges we face. These students, who make up about 15 percent of the Texas public school population, can't be blamed for every shortcoming.

And lest anyone be tempted to tangle this issue with illegal immigration, Justice writes that 87 percent of limited-English students aren't classified as immigrants at all. For the most part, they were born here.

Instead of grasping for excuses, our state leaders should focus on solutions. And even in Texas, they're ripe for the finding. Texas actually has within its patchwork of bilingual education programs gems that have reported real successes in educating limited-English students.

In some ways, bilingual education experts say, Texas is among the most progressive states in the nation in embracing innovative bilingual education instructional models, many backed by research that supports allowing students to develop cognitively in their native language, rather than rushing them into English-only classes.

We still allow standardized testing assessments in English and Spanish. And dual language programs, which aim for students to be able to read, write, speak and perform academically in two languages, are flourishing, from poor border schools to the Houston suburbs.

"Just 10 years ago, there were maybe 50 dual language programs," in Texas, said Leo Gomez, professor at the University of Texas Pan American and an executive board member of Texas Association for Bilingual Education. "Now we're sitting on 600 schools."

The data supporting the success of these programs is building, and lawmakers recently passed a measure requiring TEA to map achievement by the type of bilingual education program so we can identify the winners.

Onward Through the Blog

The Rag Blog is a reader-supported newsmagazine produced by activist journalists committed to progressive social change. The Rag Blog is published by the New Journalism Project, a 501(c)(3) Texas non-profit.

New Journalism Project, inc.P.O. Box 16442Austin, Texas 78761-6442

THE RAG: A FilmPart I of a documentary filmabout the life and times ofAustin's pioneering undergroundnewspaper, The Rag (1966-1977),by People's History in Texas. The Rag Blog and Rag Radio are a digital-era rebirth of The Rag.

Receive Regular E-Mail Notices About What's New on The Rag Blog

Comment Policy: This blog enforces a specific comment policy that prohibits personal attack, goading and harassment, and other malicious remarks. We will delete remarks considered inappropriate, at the discretion of the editors. We will also delete all commercial solicitations.

BOOKS / Alan Wieder : Paul Buhle's 'Radical Jesus: A Graphic History of Faith' by Alan Wieder / The Rag Blog. Noted historian Paul Buhle, who has published an acclaimed series of nonfiction comics, is one of the most prolific and insightful critics from the American left. "Radical Jesus," which communicates the social message of Jesus Christ in comic format, investigates the inequalities that exist in the world through a theological lens.

Rabbi Arthur Waskow : Israel, Hillel, and Idolatry by Rabbi Arthur Waskow / The Rag Blog. Hillel International, the "home" for many Jewish college students of diverse backgrounds and beliefs, has been beset with controversy about when uncritical support among American Jews for Israel becomes "idolatry of the State."

Paul Krassner : Is There a Doctor in the House? by Paul Krassner / The Rag Blog. The Coachella Valley in Southern California hosted a massive four-day health clinic that helped more than 2,500 uninsured patients. Krassner points out that California leads the nation in people without health insurance and says that "the insurance industry has a preexisting condition known in technical terminology as greed."

Kate Braun : Winter Solstice Falls on Saturn's Day by Kate Braun / The Rag Blog. Our celebrations during the Winter Solstice take from many traditions, including the Roman Saturnalia, Druid customs, the German "Yule," and the birth of Jesus; and it was Queen Victoria who popularized the lighted Christmas tree.

Allen Young : Ralph Dungan, the 'Good Liberal' by Allen Young / The Rag Blog. A recent obituary of Ralph Dungan, one of President John F. Kennedy's top aides who later served as ambassador to Chile, reminds Allen of a revealing experience he had with the man referred to by a historian as a "good liberal."

Ed Felien : A Good [Angry White] Man With a Gun by Ed Felien / The Rag Blog. Paul Anthony Ciancia considered himself a "good man with a gun" -- a warrior against the traitors who were taking over our government, bankrupting our currency, and trying to establish a New World Order -- when he walked into the Los Angeles airport and opened fire with an assault rifle.

Lamar W. Hankins : Right-Wing Rants and the Abominable Straw Man by Lamar W. Hankins / The Rag Blog. The Internet is a marvelous tool when used honestly and correctly, and with recognition of its limitations. But it is also home to angry rants, often from the far right, that make ridiculous claims -- like the one (that actually originated on a satirical site) saying that the Obama administration was setting up gasoline stations to provide free gas to low-income [read: black] people.

Harry Targ : My Nelson Mandela by Harry Targ / The Rag Blog. An irony of 21st century historical discourse is how real historic figures -- like the late Nelson Mandela -- get lionized, sanitized, and redefined as defenders of the ongoing order rather than activists who committed their lives to revolutionary change.

Michael James : Back to Uptown, 1965-1966 by Michael James / The Rag Blog. Mike continues his remarkable memoir, accompanied -- and inspired by -- photos from his upcoming book. His adventures -- and the making of an activist -- continue as he heads back to Uptown Chicago, "progressing along my path with another left turn and a big step into America."

Alice Embree : Chile and the Politics of Memory by Alice Embree / The Rag Blog. Chileans went to the polls Sunday and appear to be reelecting Socialist president Michelle Bachelet on the 40th anniversary of the bloody U.S.-supported coup against Socialist president Salvador Allende. Alice writes about the dramatic contradictions in Chilean politics and history.

Paul Krassner : A Tale of Two Alternative Media Conferences by Paul Krassner / The Rag Blog. Paul remembers the original Alternative Media Conference in June 1970 at Goddard College in Vermont -- and it was a wild and wooly affair headlined by the likes of Ram Dass, Harvey Kurtzman, and Art Spiegelman -- as the college hosts another conference keynoted by progressive radio host Thom Hartmann.

Harry Targ : STEM and the Tyranny of the Meme by Harry Targ / The Rag Blog. From the fear of "falling behind the Soviets" to the missile gap and, more recently the wars on drugs and terrorism, the fear of falling behind some fictional adversaries is an ongoing "meme" used by economic, political, and military elites. The latest? Now it's the "STEM crisis" and the fear that we're falling behind other nations in science and technology .

Alice Embree : Anne Lewis' New Website Brings Austin Movement History to Life by Alice Embree / The Rag Blog. Noted documentary filmmaker Anne Lewis has created a website called Austin Beloved Community that uses audio, film, photos, maps, and personal recollections to create a "digital collage" about the struggle for social and economic justice in Austin from the 1880s to the present. Alice interviews Lewis about the unique project.

BOOKS / Ron Jacobs : Marc Myers Tells Us 'Why Jazz Happened' by Ron Jacobs / The Rag Blog. Ron reviews a new book on America's own music in which Marc Myers "provides the reader with a deep, rich, and broad perspective on the confluence of jazz and U.S. history in the decades following World War Two."

David McReynolds : We Are All Wounded Veterans by David McReynolds / The Rag Blog. Long-time pacifist writer and activist McReynolds says there's something "infinitely sad" about the recent celebration of Veterans Day. "In the bad wars -- which are the only wars we have fought for some time now -- there is the terrible knowledge that the enemy was never really the enemy," he says.

Michael James : Going Off Campus, 1965 by Michael James / The Rag Blog. Mike continues to share experiences and images from his rich history as an activist and adventurer -- that will be published in an upcoming book, "Michael Gaylord James' Pictures from the Long Haul." Here Mike reports on the Free Speech Movement at Berkeley, community organizing in Oakland, and his travels across the country in a 1957 Plymouth station wagon "drive-away."